Avatar: Monolith
by Intertiatic
Summary: The Avatar has been captured by a group of Earthbenders who call themselves the "Cenotaph" bent on nothing but absolute power by any means necessary.


"**Monolith"**

Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar or any of its characters, sadly.

"Watch out, Aang! You're going too fast!"

Katara's warnings fell on deaf ears, though, Aang was too far ahead and going too fast to be bothered by her shouting. The thrill of flying at top speed through a forest was too exhilarating and the feel of the wind beneath him as he bended it to his will was too much fun. He couldn't help himself. These countless weeks of running had taken its toll on the Avatar; he was sure it had taken its toll on Katara and Sokka as well. He needed to relax, and what better way for an Airbender to relax than to soar through the air?

That's when it hit him, literally, a huge torrent of rocks shooting at him at incredibly fast speeds. He managed to dodge some, while others he deflected with his Airbending skills, but there were too many and managed to pierce the wing of his staff. He would have sustained a lot of injury had it not been for him making a ball of air and floating down on it. Upon reaching the ground he took a look around, he had realized that the flurry of rocks hurled at him had to be the result of Earthbending. The question was, where were they and why were they attacking him? His questions were answered soon enough as five men garbed in faded brown armor jumped out from the surrounding trees and circled him. "Hey, guys…" Aang began, but before he could finish his sentence he was incased in a dome of rock and soil.

Up above on the back of Appa the flying bison, Katara searched the ground desperately for any sign of her Airbending friend. "Where are you, Aang?" She whispered to herself, her face in a worried expression. Sokka, on the other hand, was trying to wrestle away a piece of fruit from Momo, Aang's pet lemur. Finally, Sokka gave in when Momo dug its claws into Sokka's hand trying to pry the fruit from his hand. "Damn rat, I'll get you and when I do…" He turned his attentions to Katara, who was crouching over the side of the behemoth looking down at the forest below. "What're you doing?" He asked. She didn't hear him. He asked again, "Katara, what are you doing!" She still didn't seem to hear him. "Girls…" He continued to question her no further, until he noticed Aang was missing, "Hey, where's Aan…Ooh."

After searching for a good hour and a half the clouds began to roll in and the rain began to fall, hard. They were forced to make camp in a nearby cave on the side of the mountain. Katara wanted to continue to search for Aang, but Sokka forbade her. He said, 'Girls shouldn't go around catching colds, it would make them weaker than they already are and there was no way he was going to take care of a sick girl.' Katara tried to protest that as being sexist, but Sokka wouldn't hear anymore of it and went to bed. Leaving Katara to start the fire; she was about to say how utterly hypocritical that was and how he should be starting the fire, not her, but figured it was not worth it.

She went to the mouth of the cave and found Momo sitting there chewing on some fruit. She started to pet him and stared out into the forest. Aang was out there somewhere in the cold, most likely hurt, how could she stand there while he was out there alone? Still, Sokka had had a point, if she was sick she couldn't do anything to help her.

Aang woke up in a dark, stone cell, bound and gagged. His head ached like no tomorrow and the cell was so dark he could hardly see anything. "How did I get here? Last thing I remember I was a big, dark rock thing. Now, I'm here." That's when he saw a young girl looking at him through the small barred window located on the wall the opposite side of where he was bound. When she saw him looking at her, she quickly disappeared from the window. "Hey, wait!" He yelled, but she was gone.

Then, he heard a loud clank and a man appeared. He signaled for the two men to restrain him and remove his gag. He smiled, "Ah-hah! I see you're finally awake, Avatar. I am Shai, leader of this group; you may call us the Cenotaph. If I hadn't seen you flying through the air earlier today, I would not have believed you were real! To think you would have survived all these hundred years and still look so young." He chuckled to himself. Aang looked at him and asked, "You guys are Earthbenders, aren't you?" Shai nodded and proceeded to pick up a nearby stone. He held it up to show Aang and proceeded to expand and change its shape. "Correct", he said finally. "Why are you holding me captive then?"

Shai tossed the stone away, which was now twisted in the shape of a star, and turned to leave. "Simple", he said, "we need something and you can get it for us. Also, now that we have you, we can turn this war around." When he was gone, the two men that had been restraining him stayed behind. The taller of the two smirked, "The boss said we could rough him up a bit, right?" The shorter one nodded. He seemed to be the one in charge between the two. Aang didn't give them a chance to try anything, though, his instincts kicked in and with a quick breath of air he blew the two away. "You've obviously never fought an Airbender! He-he, see ya."

Running out of the cell he heard the two men yelling out, "SOUND THE ALARMS. HE'S ESCAPING!" It was too late though, he was already being chased by, he counted, 15 men, who were probably Earthbenders and armed. He hadn't caused such a ruckus since he was captured by Prince Zuko and the rest of the Firebenders! He easily took out half those men with a simple blast of air and managed to remove his bindings in the process. "Just like last time", he said to himself aloud. Now, the alarms were blaring and the shouts and marching of men could be heard throughout the compound. He saw the exit, but decided he couldn't leave just yet. He didn't have his staff and even though it had a pierce wing was invaluable to him.

Taking a left at the conjoining hall he saw an armory and amidst all the steel swords, stone shields, and armor lay his staff. Grabbing it he used his Airbending abilities to give him an extra boost of speed, the exit was close, very close. "Just a few more feet and I can get out this place." He thought to himself. Just then the door became a wall! The exit that had just been there a few seconds ago had suddenly melted in with the rest of the wall making it a dead end. "How the..?"

Aang exclaimed. Behind him a booming laugh erupted, "My boy, this whole structure is made of stone, did you really think it would be that easy to escape, Avatar?" It was at times like this Aang really wished he had mastered all four elements already. He easily could've used some Airbending to knock Shai off-balance then use some Earthbending to make an exit. There wasn't any time for any "What-Ifs" though, he need to get out of there fast.

The roof collapsed suddenly and rain began to pour in. "What the hell!" Exclaimed Shai as he was nearly crushed by the falling stone, Aang looked up and saw the same girl from earlier surrounded by more people. "Hurry!" yelled the girl. He didn't need to be told twice, and quickly unfolded his staff and flew up, using Airbending to make up for the pierced wing. He landed on the roof with them and a man motioned for Aang to run. He followed his rescuers back into the forest and after a few yards they stopped. He looked around and saw that they had stopped in front of a huge monolith with the symbol for Earth imbedded on it. He was about to ask why they had stopped when two men stood up to the rock and moved their hands in unison. Earthbending, Aang decided and he was right. As if by magic, but Aang knew better, the giant stone reshaped itself into a doorway to a length of stairs. The little girl from before grabbed Aang's hand and pulled him towards the doorway. They were followed by the rest of the group and in an instant the doorway reshaped itself back into the giant stone from before.

Shai was furious! The Avatar had escaped and now he was in the custody of the rebels. He slammed his fist against his stone desk and sighed. "Zhao will be furious with us. We had him in our prison and we let him escape! Not only will that…but if we do get him back the Cenotaph will never have the power we so rightfully deserve!" Just then, his door opened and revealed a stout man wearing glasses. "Sir…" he began, "we have had reports of a fire emanating from a cave north of our current location. Eye-witness reports say they saw a "Flying Bison or Buffalo" heading that way. It bore the symbol the Avatar had on his forehead." Maybe Shai would have his power yet.

A/N: Been a long time since I ever wrote anything. Hopefully the piles of rust on my shoulders don't show too much, huh? Anyways, that was the first chapter of my first Avatar: The Last Airbender fan fiction. Maybe the next chapter will be a little longer.

Intertiatic


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